For the past couple of days the weather has been around 50-60 degrees, and after not even 5 minute walks Thor gets overheated. He gets all out of breath and just wants to go home. When he gets home, he wont stop drinking. He gets plenty of water, and the bowl is always full, so he shouldn't be dehydrated. I've been taking him on walks at night, and he does great. He runs around and plays fetch like he did in the winter. What i'm worried about is during the summer at night its going to be about 70-80 degrees, and im worried that he wont be able to run around anymore, and he LOVES his walks/runs. Would i have to shave him? He just got done shedding so i dont think he will shed again.. I honestly would rather not shave him because i love his fur. Is there anything else i could do? (I was also planning on caring a water bottle with me from now on)

Don't shave him. I just got in a huge argument with my dad because he went behind my back and shaved my mix boy, Jasper.

Just continue to brush your pup everyday or every other day. It helps to allow air flow through his coat to keep him cool.His coat will trap cool air near his skin and keep the sun off his skin too. They're actually more prone to overheating when they're shaved. Just don't walk him during the heat of the day.

I've always kept to more shorter walks during the late spring, summer, and early fall months. I get up around 6 AM to walk my guys (the longest walk at around an hour), then we walk about around 10AM (the shortest walk at about 15 minutes), and then we walk again around 10PM for about 45 minutes.

Just please don't shave him. It ruins their coat's and actually makes them hotter.

No to the shaving idea. I agree with Tippsy'smom, change the times you walk to take advantage of the cooler times of day. Good for you paying attention to your Fur Friends reactions to the temperature, it could save their life from heat stroke.

If you google cool beds III for canines you might see what I had to get for my chow. She always overheated and didn't like long walks. We had a cool pad water bed mat for her to lie on and she loved it we even used it when traveling in the car to cool her down after a romp at the park. Good luck they also have cooling collars for dogs if they don't mind it. Mine didn't like anything around their necks.

One of the proven scientific reasons not to shave your chow is because the dense coat protects the skin from UV light.If you take away this important protection, you open up a door to many potential unwanted illnesses including auto-immune disorders and/ or cancer. So if you do decide to s have your chow, please keep it covered in a t-shirt to protect the skin from the sun's UV light until the coat grows back.

There are times when chows do need to be shaved, it happens, but always keep them out of the sun.

Don't over analize he panting aspect. Chows are noisy dogs by nature. They huff and puff and make other noises that most people cant describe.

They also hoard water at times.

Our chows pant when they get their throats rubbed, and huff when we rub their bellies. The chow coat is designed to provide insulation in the cool whether and cooling in the heat. That is not to say you should take them on a 10 mile run in 90 degree whether, but certainly they can withstand mid 50's. If you see signs of distress, lethargy, or disinterest in water, or spasm type symptoms would be different, and probably a medical issue not related to fur density.

Shaving down your chow will not likely result in a 'cooler' chow...neither look or temp.

Does he like water? In the summer, I plan Loo's walks so that we don't have too long (5 minutes max) between watering holes! I've always had black dogs with long fur, for some reason, and it is really sad to see them suffer in the summer. I think it's great that you take the trouble of walking Sasha at night and that you let him decide when it's time to turn around. You don't want to get to the point (almost happened to me in my first Chow year) where you have to carry an adult male Chow all the way back home/to the car because you made him overdo it.

Where do i get that from? I own Chows. Have for the past 15 years. I keep them in my home as family members. Pay attention to them and provide them with affection. Despite my apparent lack of knowledge, they miraculously happen to be extremely well adjusted, socialized, AKC Breed Winners. How dare they respond by huffing, puffing, chuffing, purring or whatever else you might wish to call it. I am certain that i missed the proper terminology in your expert opinion.

Perhaps i missed the point of the forum. I was under the impression that Chow owners or persons interested in learning about the breed came here for advice or information. Apparently, we are all here to be criticized by the all-knowing Merlin. No sense in offering logical, real world experiences.

Oh, and back to the original post...i still dont recommend shaving your chow.

What is "all knowing", in saying that chows with well formed pallets doing make noise?

No one here, including myself said you had a lack of knowledge, but to say that ALL chows are normally noisy? I disagree.

Congratulations for having 15 years of AKC winners. I've had 15 years of hundreds of rescues ( many who are AKC bred, papered and everything, so I maybe can appreciate the sensitivity perhaps), but I can quantifiably <sp> tell you that most of them don't make noise, and nor are they "chatty", or "raspy" or otherwise, and I've had a tremendously broad spectrum of chows to work with, all the way from the lowliest bred chow to those "up in the ribbons". I also run a school here, exclusively for chows, so the amount of experiences I've had with them are seemingly endless and the type and/or quality of chow I get to work with is from soup to nuts.

The ones that did make noise, had surgery and didn't make noise again and can breathe properly now. If a chow has to pant every time it lifts up it's head, then it has a breathing problem.

I don't think the person asking was asking if chows were colloquial ( if that's what you were trying to say) You are the one who made the blanket statement that ALL CHOWS ARE NOISY - and becaue I questioned your comment, now all of a sudden; "my bad".. sheesh!

Yes it's possible you missed the point of the question, so please don't blame me for that.and I got to tell you.. you will NEVER catch me saying that I know everything.

What I find concerning about this question is that 40-50 degrees is not hot and should NOT cause any problems while exercising in a chow old or young. 70+ degrees especially with high humidity can cause issues, but it's only at 80, 90 degrees or higher that I'd expect problems. Minnesota has what are recognized as extreme temps, winter can be well below freezing, and summers can be very hot, with very high humidity, spring and fall are normally between 35-65 degree range, and ALL my chows have enjoyed that weather, we normally have a great time taking walks this time of year and later in the fall.

A five minute walk should not be affecting him like this, I'd take him to the vet and see if there is something else going on.

Excessive panting can be a sign of excitment as Rory's Dad said, but it should be accompanied by the desire to keep going. But trying to stop and just go home, along with obvious distress and fatigue could be something more serious. I think he needs the canine equivlant of a stress test.

I agree with the above statements...no shaving and 50-60s? Is that all? Some of us live in warmer and humid climates and 70 is still rather nice and comfortable for our chows. There's definitely something up. Look into possible medical issues?

Chows are originally from Mongolia (came to the West via China, but archaeological evidence has them in Mongolia much earlier). Climate there is far more extreme than in most of North America and certainly more so than in Europe. The coat insulates against heat AND cold, and Chows are indeed more susceptible to skin cancer from UV exposure than other breeds. Unless a Chow has a skin condition, there is never a good reason to clip or shave.